1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inflatable floor for an inflatable boat, in particular, to one which can act as a keel using three inflatable floor layers, which are bound to each other by ropes. Thereby, the inflatable floor can maintain stiffness so that a person can easily move inside the boat, enhance buoyancy to thereby increase capacity and minimize maintenance costs by facilitating partial replacement and/or repair even if one of the three inflatable floor layers is partially perforated or damaged. In addition, unlike a conventional inflatable boat, which must be packed by disassembling the bottom from the boat, the inflatable floor for an inflatable boat of the present invention can be packed together with the inflatable boat, and thus can be easily applied to a large inflatable boat such as a military or rescue boat, which is required to be rapidly assembled and disassembled.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, an inflatable boat is constructed with a floor defining a usable passenger/cargo space and inflatable tubes around the floor. The tubes are made of a flexible material such as rubber or polyvinyl chloride (PVC). When the tubes are inflated with air or gas, the inflatable boat is ready to float, propelled by a motor or paddles.
The conventional floor for an inflatable boat is manufactured using a sheet of plywood, aluminum, or the like. However, it is labor intensive to assemble and disassemble the floor to and from the boat. In addition, the floor is cumbersome since it is heavy and difficult to carry.
In order to solve these problems, inflatable boats having an inflatable floor, which can be filled with air, were introduced.
For example, as shown in FIG. 1A, a conventional inflatable boat 1 includes a floor 10, inflatable tubes 20 around the floor 10, and a V-shaped inflatable bottom 30 below the floor 10. With this configuration, the inflatable boat 1 can float using the buoyancy of the tubes 20 and the bottom 30, which are filled with air.
In the conventional inflatable boat 1 having the inflatable floor 10, the air-filled bottom 30 acts as the hull. However, the floor 10 is not stiff even if the bottom 30 is filled with air. Rather, the inflatable floor 10 is flexible and does not provide stable support for a person who steps on the floor 10 in the inflatable boat 1. As a result, it is difficult for the person to move inside the inflatable boat 1.
In this conventional structure, if the bottom 30 is punctured or torn, it no longer performs adequately as a hull due to air leakage. Then, the inflatable boat 1 has great difficulty in navigating, its ability to stay afloat is reduced, and passengers' safety may be threatened.
In order to overcome this problem, another conventional attempt is proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,868,095, entitled “INFLATABLE FLOOR, IN PARTICULAR FOR AN INFLATABLE BOAT.” The inflatable floor of this document is illustrated in FIG. 1B.
In this attempt, an inflatable floor 50 is surrounded by inflatable tubes 60. The inflatable floor 50 includes an airtight compartment 70 defined between top and bottom walls 52a and 52b. In the airtight compartment 70, a plurality of I-oriented vertical threads 72 are connected with the top and bottom walls 52a and 52b such that the inflatable floor 50 can maintain a uniform thickness when filled with air.
A bottom 80 having a V-shaped cross section is provided under the inflatable floor 50, and a tube-like keel 90 is provided in the central portion of the bottom 80, extending lengthwise of the boat. The bottom 80 maintains a V-like configuration when the inflatable floor 50 and the keel 90 are filled with air.
The above-mentioned conventional inflatable floor 50 reduces the flexibility of the floor using the air-filled top and bottom walls 52a and 52b that enhance strength to some extent. However, even if air is filled into the inflatable floor 50, sufficient stiffness is not ensured. As a result, other parts of the floor 50, except for that portion which is directly over the keel 90, are still somewhat flexible—particularly in larger craft over 5 m in length—so that a person cannot easily move inside the boat. Accordingly, this attempt is not applicable to the manufacturing of a large inflatable boat having an overall length of 5 m or more.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgment or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art that is already known to a person skilled in the art.